130 Physical Geography. 



geographical situation, their extent, their direction, their elevation, 

 their slopes and inclinations, their summits, the vallies which they 

 form, the rivers which flow from them, the lakes which they em- 

 bosom, their geognostic formation, their, climate and temperature, 

 the height and limit of perpetual snow, the plants and animals which 

 they nourish, and the races of men which inhabit them. Each of 

 these points constitutes the subject of an article, replete with interest- 

 ing facts ; and it will be easily perceived that such a sketch is not 

 susceptible of being extracted. We shall confine ourselves to the 

 summary with which the author concludes this judicious comparison. 



" 1. The Scandinavian mountains occupy 13° of latitude, the Alps 

 4^°, the Pyrenees 1°. 



"2. The Scandinavian mountains belong to a region altogether 

 maritime ; those of the Pyrenees less so, and those of the Alps not 

 at all. 



"3. The Scandinavian mountains are of greater extent than the 

 Alps, and the latter greater than the Pyrenees. 



"4. The Alps and the Pyrenees pursue a direction approaching 

 that of the equator ; the direction of the Scandinavian chain is rather 

 that of the meridian. 



' "5. The Alps have the greatest elevation, next the Pyrenees and 

 last the Scandinavian mountains. The most elevated summits are, 

 in the Alps from fourteen to fifteen thousand feet, (French?) in the 

 Pyrenees from ten to eleven thousand, and in the Scandinavian chain 

 from seven to eight thousand. The mean height of the most eleva- 

 ted part is, in the Alps from ten to twelve thousand, in the Pyrenees 

 from seven to eight thousand, and in the Scandinavian chain from 

 four to five thousand. 



" 6. The chains undergo a very considerable depression in the 

 passages of the Alps ; but much less so in the two other groups. 



"7. The inclination of the slopes is very various in Scandinavia; 

 it is much less so in the Alps and Pyrenees. In these latter chains, 

 the southern declivity is the most rapid, in the first it is the western. 



" 8. In Scandinavia the summits are almost flat; in the Alps, the 

 ridges are not sharp ; those of the Pyrenees approach more nearly to 

 that condition. 



" 9. The longitudinal vallies are great and numerous in the Alps; 

 they are almost nothing in the Pyrenees and Scandinavian mountains. 

 Transverse vallies exist on both sides of the Alps and Pyrenees ; they 

 are found more particularly on the western slope of the Scandinavian 

 chain. 



